[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 113 (Wednesday, September 13, 2006)]
[House]
[Pages H6502-H6504]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 THOMAS J. MANTON POST OFFICE BUILDING

  Mr. TOM DAVIS of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules 
and pass the bill (H.R. 6033) to designate the facility of the United 
States Postal Service located at 39-25 61st Street in Woodside, New 
York, as the ``Thomas J. Manton Post Office Building''.
  The Clerk read as follows

                               H.R. 6033

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. THOMAS J. MANTON POST OFFICE BUILDING.

       (a) Designation.--The facility of the United States Postal 
     Service located at 39-25 61st Street in Woodside, New York, 
     shall be known and designated as the ``Thomas J. Manton Post 
     Office Building''.
       (b) References.--Any reference in a law, map, regulation, 
     document, paper, or other record of the United States to the 
     facility referred to in subsection (a) shall be deemed to be 
     a reference to the ``Thomas J. Manton Post Office Building''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Virginia (Mr. Tom Davis) and the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Davis) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Virginia.


                             General Leave

  Mr. TOM DAVIS of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that 
all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and 
extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under 
consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Virginia?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. TOM DAVIS of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, H.R. 6033, offered by the distinguished gentleman from 
New York (Mr. Crowley) would designate the post office building in 
Woodside, New York, as the Thomas J. Manton Post Office Building.
  Mr. Manton passed away in July of this year. The attendance of over 
800 people at his service was a testament to his lasting impact as a 
public servant and friend to the New York community.
  His history of public service began with his time in the Marine Corps 
and continued until his final day as Chair of the Queens County 
Democratic Organization. He also worked as a New York City police 
officer while simultaneously attending law school, and in 1970 he began 
the first of what would be 14 years as a New York City Council Member. 
In 1985, he was elected to Congress, where he served his country and 
constituents until 1999.
  A steadfast advocate of diversity, Mr. Manton balanced the needs of 
the people from multiple backgrounds with heartfelt understanding and 
great compassion. His constituents remember him as a humanitarian and 
advocate who was never too busy to return a phone call or share his 
time.
  With gratitude for his devotion and service to our country, I would 
ask all Members to join me in supporting H.R. 3063
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to yield such 
time as he may consume to the sponsor of this resolution, the gentleman 
from New York (Mr. Crowley).
  Mr. CROWLEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend and colleague for 
yielding me this time.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise, and it is an honor for me to rise this evening, 
in support of H.R. 6033, legislation, as duly noted by my friend Mr. 
Davis, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service 
located at 39-25 61st Street in Woodside, New York, as the Thomas J. 
Manton Post Office Building.
  I want to first extend my sincere thanks and gratitude to Chairman 
Tom Davis for his expediting this legislation to the floor. As was 
mentioned, Tom Manton died only recently, at the end of July, and to 
have this bill on the floor as quickly as we have, I owe a great deal 
of debt to Tom. Thank you, Mr. Davis, for your work on this.
  I also want to thank the ranking member, Mr. Henry Waxman, again a 
gentleman who saw fit to move this legislation quickly; the majority 
leader, John Boehner, as well and his office. In particular I want to 
thank Denise Wilson of the Government Reform staff as well for her 
helping move this forward. I want to thank our leader, Nancy Pelosi, 
and Chairman Barton and Ranking Member John Dingell for their help in 
moving this expeditiously to the floor.
  I also want to thank all my colleagues from New York who unanimously 
supported this renaming, but particularly I want to thank the dean of 
our delegation from Long Island and Queens County, Representative Gary 
Ackerman, as well as Carolyn Maloney, Nydia Velazquez, Greg Meeks, 
Anthony Weiner, and, of course, we can't forget the dean of the New 
York delegation, Charlie Rangel, but all New Yorkers, with the support 
of both Democrat and Republican, without cause. Nita Lowey, for her 
work and for all their friendship with Tom Manton and their kind words 
back in July when this House recognized his passing.
  I appreciate that. My constituents certainly appreciate that as well. 
I know that the Manton family, in particular Diane Manton, is very 
appreciative of the honor that we bestow upon her late, great husband, 
former Congressman Tom Manton.
  Many of my colleagues in Congress are familiar with the exemplary 
service of former Congressman Tom Manton because you served with him. 
But for those who don't recall, he served with honor and distinction in 
the United States House of Representatives from 1984 to 1999. He 
replaced the then legendary former Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro.
  Before that, Tom Manton came from humble Irish American roots. He 
loved his country, America, and certainly loved his ancestral homeland 
of Ireland as well, and that was reflected in the community he grew up 
in. Woodside, New York, was and still remains a

[[Page H6503]]

community that has an Irish flavor to it.
  Tom Manton served the City of New York first as a member of the New 
York City Police Department. He had worked for a time for IBM and there 
had been some discussion at one time that he sold computers for IBM. 
Let me just make it perfectly clear. When Tom Manton worked for IBM, 
computers were bigger than this room. He did not sell computers for 
IBM. I think it was he sold typewriters for IBM. It is important to 
make that distinction.
  But after that he had gone to law school at St. John's and he 
graduated and ran for the New York City Council and served there with 
distinction for 15 years before coming on to serve here in the House of 
Representatives.
  As I mentioned before, the neighborhood that this Post Office is 
located in, if you took a dart and threw it at the map of New York City 
and you hit bullseye, you would be right in Woodside-Queens, New York, 
as I mentioned before, a community that is known for its Irish American 
community and one of the still largest concentrations of Irish American 
immigrants in our Nation today. Woodside is also my hometown, my home 
neighborhood.
  It is also very diverse. It is a multi-ethnic neighborhood, and an 
ever-changing part of my district, as it was for Tom Manton, and is 
often the first stop for new immigrants to our great country.
  While we may hear less Irish and Italian accents and more Turkish, 
Bengali, Hindi and Spanish in local stores, the neighborhood of 
Woodside is as vibrant today as it was when I was a young child and it 
was when Tom Manton served as its legislator.
  Naming this Post Office after Tom Manton, again, the son of Irish 
immigrants, who rose to serve in these hallowed halls, is a perfect 
reminder to that potential that exists for all immigrants and their 
children today in the United States that it is as unlimited as it was 
for Tom Manton and as it was for his parents to see him become a Member 
of Congress, as it is for my parents to be here to see me become a 
Member of Congress and for previous generations.
  I want to thank all my colleagues again for their expediting this 
legislation. Tom Manton was more than my predecessor. He was my 
counsel, he was my mentor, and, more importantly, he was my friend. For 
you to recognize him in this way and in such a manner does more in many 
respects to my own heart, and I really appreciate this.
  Again, on behalf of the Manton family, and in particular Diane 
Manton, his wife, and his children and his grandchildren and the people 
of the Seventh Congressional District, in particular Woodside, I thank 
this entire Congress for its unanimous support for renaming this Post 
Office after Tom Manton.
  Mr. TOM DAVIS of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my friend for his very moving words. 
This is a tough partisan area right now, we even argued over a 9/11 
resolution a minute ago, where partisanship sometimes gets in the way 
of other things.
  Even though Tom Manton was a strong Democrat and a Democratic leader, 
he never let his partisanship get in the way of getting good results 
for his constituency and for the country. So this is a fitting memory 
to his legacy that he leaves here, and I join you. He was our friend on 
this side of the aisle as well.
  Tonight we moved this quickly, Republicans and Democrats, in his 
honor, because of the great man that he was. I thank my friend for 
introducing the resolution.
  Mr. Speaker, I have no other speakers at this moment, so I yield back 
the balance of my time.

                              {time}  2000

  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  As a member of the House Government Reform Committee, I am pleased to 
join my colleagues in consideration of H.R. 6033, which names a postal 
facility in Woodside, New York, after the late Thomas J. Manton, former 
Member of Congress, who represented the Seventh Congressional District 
of New York.
  I know that Representative Crowley has spoken eloquently about all of 
the exploits and all of what Representative Manton meant to New York. I 
know that there were a number of other New Yorkers who had intended to 
be here and probably were not able to make it. I know that 
Representative Caroline Maloney had intended to be here and 
Representative Nita Lowey had intended to be here, because they had 
indicated that they too wanted to express their appreciation for the 
tremendous and outstanding service that was indeed provided. And so 
just on their behalf and on behalf of all of the others who would want 
to have expressed themselves and could not, I would join with 
Representative Crowley and Chairman Davis in urging swift passage of 
this bill as we honor the life and the legacy of a true American and a 
great friend to all, Representative Thomas Manton
  Mr. OXLEY. Mr. Speaker, today I rise in strong support of H.R. 6033, 
the Thomas J. Manton Post Office Building Designation Act. The 
legislation would designate a United States Postal Service Office in 
New York as the Thomas J. Manton Post Office Building.
  Thomas Manton served this country with honor and integrity. He was a 
true public servant.
  His distinguished public servant career includes: serving in the 
military, police officer with the New York City Police Department, 
serving in the New York City Council and being a Member of Congress 
representing the people of New York's 7th congressional district. 
Thomas Manton always fought for the people he represented and New 
Yorkers are better off because of his work.
  I am honored to have worked with Thomas Manton while he was in 
Congress. We were both members of the Energy and Commerce Committee, 
and he was ranking member on the Subcommittee that I chaired. We sat 
through many long hearings together.
  Throughout his life he approached his work with integrity. The 
dedication in Thomas Manton's honor will preserve his legacy and remind 
his constituents of his long and distinguished public career.
  I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this legislation.
  Mr. ACKERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 6033, a 
bill that would designate the United States Postal Service facility at 
39-25 61st Street, in Woodside, Queens, New York City the ``Thomas J. 
Manton Post Office Building.'' It is more than fitting that a federal 
facility will be named after Tom in a community that he so ably 
represented for so many years.
  Tom lived a life seemingly from a movie script: a son of Irish 
immigrants; educated at St. John's University; earned his law degree at 
night from St. John's; Marine Corps Flight Navigator; New York City 
Police Officer; New York City Councilman from Queens; Member of 
Congress; and Queens County Democratic Chairman. Tom Manton's life was 
a perfect realization of the American Dream, and having achieved the 
American Dream himself, Tom always worked to ensure that everyone, 
native born and immigrant alike, had the opportunity to live the 
American Dream as well.
  When Tom Manton became Chairman of the Queens County Democratic 
organization, he immediately revitalized a local party beset by front-
page problems and the loss of public trust. Tom turned the party 
organization around while at the same time insisting on increasing its 
diversity to reflect the borough of Queens. Tom recruited and helped 
numerous political candidates from different ethnic backgrounds. As a 
result of Tom's hard work, discipline, and commitment, the Queens 
Democratic Committee is currently one of the strongest party 
organizations in the country.
  In Congress, Tom was a tireless advocate for the people of New York. 
On the Committee on Energy and Commerce, Tom worked to help his 
constituents by bringing jobs and opportunity to his congressional 
district. Like many others, I turned to Tom for advice and guidance and 
found him to be a stand-up guy, the real deal. His word and handshake 
was his bond. Tom characteristically worked quietly behind the curtain, 
rather than grandstanding in front of the cameras. So, he might be a 
little embarrassed about having a federal facility named after him. 
But, Tom also believed in our government, and its ability to help each 
of us achieve our dreams of prosperity and justice for all Americans.
  Mr. Speaker, Tom Manton's life of hard work, perseverance, and 
selflessness brought integrity and dignity to public office. It is 
appropriate that we pay tribute to his memory by naming this post 
office in Woodside, Queens in his honor. I urge my colleagues to 
support H.R. 6033.
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my 
time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by

[[Page H6504]]

the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Tom Davis) that the House suspend the 
rules and pass the bill, H.R. 6033.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds of 
those present have voted in the affirmative.
  Mr. TOM DAVIS of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and 
nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this question will 
be postponed.

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